CR on the Southern Secondary

The cars need air brake work. The cars cannot be worked on where they sit. They need to be moved to the furthest track away from the CR main, #1 yard track I think. If the wire train was in the way from the Interlocking end It couldn't have happened. Try again later.

Yeah that track on the far left is where they park the catenary inspection vehicle, so nothing goes there until that moves.

They did try on Thursday but couldn’t open the switch at the south end.

I recently found some slides I had scanned that are of the SA31 back when they had a NS GP15-1 still in Conrail Quality paint. So let's rewind the clock to May 29, 2005.

First one is of the SA31 about to cross Southard Avenue as they have cars for Gold Lumber.
http://octrainguy.rrpicturearchives.net ... id=5775984

Back on the Southern in Farmingdale as they head to Lakehurst:
http://octrainguy.rrpicturearchives.net ... id=5775985

Print photo of the train stopped at Collingwood Auction for lunch:
http://octrainguy.rrpicturearchives.net ... id=5775986

Last picture looks like it’s actually in Collingswood Auction. No railroad bridge, and the siding for Brick Recycling (84 Lumber at the time I think) is visible.

Man, I got into railfanning too late! GP15s would be something interesting down here nowadays.

Actually, while we are on the topic of how things used to be…

Here’s some quick pictures I took at my friends house today after helping him acquire a new radiator for his truck. All except for the SA42 shot are on the Southern, and all except the picture of CSX 2806 and NS 2917 (now NS 5647) are from the book Conrail Shared Assets In Color. Would have showed his other pictures he had on his wall but my phone ran out of space.

My friend is visible in the picture showing the two book pages. Bottom left with CSX 4423.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/sig7scnLD8i9QTsh8

Thos e pictures look like the Conrail train I took my kids to see. Would either of you happen to have taken a picture of me and my family on the Lakewood train about 20 years ago? Long shot but why not ask.
It was either Thursday or Friday morning that we were heading to the Howell Lowes. We saw three white trucks on the dirt road next to the tracks at Miller Road. The trucks had the company name Ozmosis on them and the guys were working in one of those silver cabinets by the tracks. My buddy wanted to talk to them so we pulled over to the side of the road and got out. They said they were doing work for a new railroad taking over. They got very defensive asking why we were asking questions then said they were going to call the cops.

Sounds like a contractor doing work for Chesapeake and Delaware, who will soon be taking over this line.

No clue who osmosis is. Usually C&D has Railroad Construction do contract work for them from what I’ve seen.

Not sure about the picture you seek.

Yeah, that sounds like someone was stealing scrap.

@CR7876 He mentioned the silver boxes by the tracks. The crossing relay boxes perhaps? There’s a heap of valuable stuff in them. Copper wires, batteries, signal rectifiers, relays, etc.

No company names on the trucks and the company “Osmosis” is a JCPL contractor I think. Wouldn’t that be on their trucks?

Bracdude181 wrote: ↑Sun Jun 05, 2022 10:40 am No company names on the trucks and the company “Osmosis” is a JCPL contractor I think. Wouldn’t that be on their trucks?

If you mean that a contractor for JCP&L would also have the name JCP&L on the contractor trucks, that is highly unlikely. JCP&L permitting its contractor to have JCP&L on the contractor's trucks could expose JCP&L to direct liability for driving accidents, etc. involving the contractor's trucks.

There is a company, Osmose (or Ozmose) that does that kind of work. It's a large infrastructure construction and maintenance company.

Bracdude181 wrote: ↑Sat Jun 04, 2022 9:01 pm Last picture looks like it’s actually in Collingswood Auction. No railroad bridge, and the siding for Brick Recycling (84 Lumber at the time I think) is visible.

Yeah, I had to adjust that. Would make sense with the other pictures I found from that day and the crew on their lunch break. Not sure why I was thinking Lakehurst, guess just the train parked under a bridge. Must've been too focused on the hockey game last night.

You could be right about the Osmose rather then Ozmosis. Regardless, we stopped to ask if the train was coming. My friend was asking them other railroad related questions. They mentioned that there is a new operator taking over then got very defensive with why all the questions and maybe we should call the cops and that we are trespassing. We were standing on the side of the road. My friend thinks the way they quickly closed that silver cabinet that they may have been up to something they shouldn't be. Whatever the case, they seemed very unprofessional.

While on the topic of a new operator, how many operators have there been on this line? My friend told me that one of his coworkers had made an attempt to be an operator of this line. The guy had backing from a big railroad company he was working for. Then they backed out and he gave up.

@OCtrainguy Say, you got any more pictures of Lakehurst from the very early 2000s? Like before 2002? In the picture I showed of CSX 2806, there’s a track in the foreground that’s not there now. Wondering what that area looked like with the track there.

@FrontFrank Ah don’t let it get you. I’ve had the cops called on me for filming trains and it hasn’t stopped me. The new operator is called the Delaware and Raritan River Railroad. They are a subsidiary of Chesapeake and Delaware LLC. They will begin operations between June 19th and July 1st it seems, so time is running out to catch CSX power on this line.

For additional info on this company, here’s their website. http://www.chesapeakeanddelaware.com/

As far as operators go, we’ve had the Raritan and Delaware Bay, CNJ, Conrail, Conrail Shared Assets. There’s one or two more I don’t remember the names of. When you say big company, do you mean someone in NJ or someone else? Chances are your buddy’s coworkers aren’t the only ones to at least look at this line and consider running it. We even had someone from Reading and Northern scout this line out once! (Around 2015 ish)